Atlas Mugged
"Atlas Mugged", also titled "Episode 2", is the second episode of Telltale Games' Tales from the Borderlands. Synopsis Following the Gortys Project to a top secret Vault, Rhys and Fiona must steal some supplies from an abandoned Atlas factory. While Rhys tries to escape from Handsome Jack's shadow, the group attempts to learn more about the Gortys Project while being hunted by both Hyperion and the vengeful August. Plot In the present day, Rhys and Fiona have fallen asleep against each other's backs, only to be woken up by the Kidnapper, who unties them and starts leading them to an unknown destination. After spitting on and punching Rhys in the neck, Fiona continues the story. After activating the Gortys core, Rhys suddenly starts acting strangely and runs away from the group. The rest try to figure out what to do with the core, but when Sasha touches it it falls to the ground, and they are unable to put it back together as Rhys's piece is still encoded to him. Tampering with core activates a nearby computer, which can only be accessed using an eye-scan of Atlas General Pollux. They find Pollux in a nearby coffin, supposedly long-dead. Realizing they cannot pull him out of the coffin to the scanner, Fiona is forced to scoop his eyeball out with a spork (and in the process ruining his other eye). After using the eye on the scanner, two videos play: one with Athena the Gladiator after massacring the Atlas base in Old Haven vowing to kill Pollux and mentioning the Gortys Project, and another of the general himself telling whoever watches his log that he is putting himself in suspended animation while Athena is a threat. Upon realizing that Pollux was alive the whole time they were scooping out his eye, Rhys suddenly screams from the level above and falls off a ledge, splattering blood everywhere. Rhys takes over, pointing out that it wasn't that much blood. As the player saw, after activating the Gortys core, an AI of Handsome Jack appeared. Realizing Rhys is a Hyperion employee, Jack leads him away from the group, where he soon learns of his death at the Vault and his new status as an AI. Confused, he tries to choke Rhys to death to see if he really is non-corporeal, only for Rhys to hit his head on a piece of rebar, whereupon Jack disappears and Rhys falls off, landing on a computer monitor. After recovering, the group sees moonshots being shot from Helios, and try to escape in the caravan to Hollow Point. The chaos awakens a nearby Rakk Hive, who gives chase and damages the caravan nearly beyond repair. Rhys tricks the Rakk Hive into taking a moonshot on its back, instantly killing it, but ends up being forced out of the caravan along with Vaughn. After waking up, Vaughn starts talking about how exciting this new Pandoran life is compared to corporate Hyperion, which Rhys can either support or brush off. Yvette then contacts them, promising to send supplies but warning that she cannot do much about Vasquez trying to kill them. Handsome Jack suddenly reappears, and Rhys has the option of telling Vaughn about him or pretending he's just talking to himself. If Vaughn learns about it, they discuss what Hyperion would do if they found out Rhys had their dead CEO implanted in his brain. Another moonshot, presumably sent by Yvette, heads towards the group, but is quickly revealed to actually contain Vasquez and his car. Vasquez intends to kill both of them for treason, and reveals that he gave Vaughn the same deal he offered Rhys, and Vaughn accepted. Vasquez mentions Hyperion wants Rhys's body because of "something floating around in his head." Jack then interferes, and enhances Rhys' ECHO eye, allowing him to hack either Vasquez's gun or his car, which Rhys uses to incapacitate Vasquez temporarily. While celebrating this, Jack realizes he can gain partial control of Rhys' body when accessing his implants, which Rhys swiftly stops by punching himself in the head. Rhys and Vaughn escape with the Loader Bot, and then choose to head for either Hollow Point or Old Haven. Vaughn apologizes for taking Vasquez's deal, and if Rhys accepts the apology, they declare each other bros. That's bro. Bro for bro. Brobrobrobrobrobrobrobrobro... Apparently Fiona took over the story. "We don't talk like that!" Rhys complains. If Rhys and Vaughn went to Hollow Point, Fiona starts telling her side of the story. If Rhys and Vaughn went to Old Haven, they find the facility nearly abandoned. Rhys looks around and finds three power boxes. The player has to figure out how to get them working. Once it's done, several buildings rise up from the ground and players will see a large door that says Atlas on it. August shows up with thugs and holds Rhys at gunpoint. Together they enter the building. At this point Fiona takes over the story. After losing Rhys and Vaughn in the sand wastes, Fiona and Sasha return to Hollow Point for repairs, at Scooter's garage. After having a look around (look for the loot box next to the vending machine), Fiona finds Scooter. After a brief conversation, Scooter agrees to fix the car for free, with the added bonus of giving it a new paint job for up to $1000. While waiting for him to get started, two bounty hunters walk in, holding up the bounty set up for Fiona. Scooter covers for the two women (and gets punched in the process), and recommends the two find a place to hide until he's finished. The two set out for Felix's place, unaware that a certain former Atlas assassin is on their tail. Upon entering the house, Fiona finds their old safe, which contains some money, a handmade grenade, and a blacklight. Discovering ultraviolet paint, they realized Felix left a gift hidden in the floorboards, which contains more money, another grenade, two small boxes (one for each of them), and an ECHO recorder message apologizing for his betrayal in the previous episode and warning Fiona and Sasha to hide from a person named "Vallory." Sasha, still angered by his betrayal (and, depending on the player's choice, Fiona's choice to let him live), rejects his apology. Fiona then inspects the box Felix left her, which includes another bullet and an add-on for her gun that includes an elemental effect. Fiona then has the option to peek in the box or give it to Sasha, who turns it down. They are interrupted by the two bounty hunters from before, Finch and Kroger. Fiona pulls her gun on Finch, and fires one of a possible three elemental effects, which subdues him and distracts Kroger long enough for the two to knock the both of them out. While trying to escape the compound, Finch is attacked from behind by none other than former Vault Hunter and Atlas assassin Athena, who then gives chase after the two, eventually cornering them in an alleyway. If Rhys and Vaughn went to Old Haven, Fiona hurls a stun grenade at Athena, incapacitating her long enough for the girls to head back to Scooter's shop where they see the fixed/upgraded (depending on players choices) caravan. After realizing Athena was still after them, they (depending again on choice) force their way back into the shop with Athena protesting behind them. Players meet Springs who turns out to be Athena's girlfriend. At this point Athena has removed her hood and hidden her shield and pretends that she knows nothing about an assassin nearby. Players get to decide whether to go along, or state that Athena IS the assassin (to Janey's anger). Athena warns them that there are worse people out there who could be looking for them. Fiona and Sasha leave and head toward the location of Rhys and Vaughn. They also have the option of taking Athena's shield: doing so will incite no reaction at the time as Athena is unable to reveal her actions with Springs standing right next to her. They arrive at the Atlas site and notice the devastation. Regardless of player comment, Fiona believes that Athena made the mess and that they may have just gotten lucky 'back there'. Then they see the open door and walk inside where Rhys and Vaughn are being held at gunpoint by August and his thugs. After the player decides what to do, Vazquez shows up to the party. If Rhys and Vaughn decided to go to Hollow Point, then Loader Bot appears, grabs Athena, and knocks her into the air (which The Masked Kidnapper points out Loader Bots cannot do). Fiona and Sasha find Rhys and Vaughn at Scooter's, trying to convince the latter that they own the caravan. Upon spotting Fiona and Sasha, Rhys refers to them as their friends. Fiona can either confirm or deny it. Either way, the four leave for Old Haven (with Athena watching them from Scooter's roof), and the events that would have occurred to Rhys and Vaughn had they gone to Old Haven in the first place play out, only with Fiona and Sasha present. This time, all four enter the Atlas building, only to be met by August and Vasquez. Loader Bot is commanded to attack Vasquez (either by Vaughn or Rhys) and Vasquez shuts it down using a universal remote. Vasquez heads down a corridor with Rhys and the unseen holo of Handsome Jack and August takes Fiona down another. Both characters have their Gortys pieces with them that they found back in the Gortys lab. Sasha and Vaughn are left behind, guarded by the thugs. Handsome Jack is trying to figure out how he knows Vasquez while Vasquez is yapping away about how he made it to the top and how Handsome Jack would always make time for him and punch him in the face (apparently a sign of affection?). Vasquez punches Rhys in the stomach as an example. The scene switches to Fiona and August and players control the conversation. If players ask why August is doing 'this', players will learn that August screwed Vallory (whom Felix had warned Fiona and Sasha about) by doing the vault key deal under her nose and now August has to convince Vallory that whatever the Gortys device leads them to, that it's worth more than the Ten Million that August never got. He hopes that this will keep Vallory from killing him. Then August asks about Sasha. Now players are switched back to Rhys where Vasquez is still yapping away. Suddenly Jack remembers and realizes that Vasquez used to be the bald headed man in the mail room who was getting hair implants. (Vazquez has a full head of hair in the game). Players get to choose whether or not to make fun of Vasquez and ask him about it. At the end of the corridor is a device that players will need to interact with. This puts up a shield, separating Vasquez and Rhys. August walks Fiona to the end of their corridor where she will need to interact with the console as well. This also activates a shield and now she and Rhys are moved together on platforms and must connect the consoles together. They are reminded that their friends are still being held at gunpoint. After putting the consoles together, a round metal electronic ball is created and floats between them. As Rhys reaches for it, it becomes compromised and several security bots show up surrounding them as well as their party who are still inside the building. Fiona wants to use a stun grenade on the bots while Jack offers to use the electronics inside Rhys' head to disable the bots if Rhys will let him have access. The player must choose and the resulting cinematic ends the episode. In a post-credits scene, the vanity hutch from the caravan is lying in the sand wastes, with a picture of young Fiona and Sasha with Felix still attached to the mirror. Someone walks up to it, takes the picture, and tears off Felix's image, focusing instead on Fiona and Sasha. In-Game Decisions Fiona: Told Sasha to Help Fiona or Rhys? * Told Sasha to help Rhys - 78.4% * Told Sasha to help you - 21.6% Customized the caravan? * Decided against customization - 10.9% * Selected the Maliwan brand - 49.9% * Selected the Jakobs brand - * Selected the Scooter Special - Looked at Sasha's gift from Felix? * Didn't peek inside - 80.9% * Peeked inside - 19.1% What bullet did you use on Finch? * Shot Finch with shock damage - 29.9% * Shot Finch with corrosive damage - 33.6% * Shot Finch with incendiary damage - 36.5% Tell Janey that Athena is lying? Take Athena's shield? Rhys: Told Vaughn about Handsome Jack? * Told Vaughn - 81.3% * Kept Handsome Jack a secret - 18.7% Old Haven or Hollow Point? * Chose to go to Hollow Point - 66.2% * Chose to go to Old Haven - 33.8% Brofisted Vaughn? * Brofisted Vaughn - 90% * Did not brofist Vaughn - 10% Trust Fiona or Jack? * Trusted Fiona - 65% * Trusted Jack - 35% Impacts Credits * Rhys * Fiona * Vaughn * Hugo Vasquez * Sasha * Handsome Jack (AI) * Felix (Video) * August * Tector Hodunk (Determinant) * General Pollux * Scooter * Janey Springs (Determinant) * Athena * Finch * Kroger Deaths * General Pollux * Several Crimson Lance soldiers Impacts * If you ordered Loader Bot to self destruct in episode one, it will act coldly towards Rhys. * Deciding Felix's fate in Episode One will make Sasha say different things to Fiona. Promotional Poster Trivia * Telltale confirmed that there will be news about this episode during their PAX East panel on March 8th. ** Release dates and a trailer was shown at the panel. * The episode title, "Atlas Mugged," is a reference to the pro-capitalism novel Atlas Shrugged by writer and Objectivist movement founder Ayn Rand. * This episode was originally announced to come out around "6 to 8 weeks" after "Zer0 Sum." However, it came out almost two months later than thought, leading to many complaints from impatient fans. This is referenced in Marcus's opening statement: "Yes, yes, it's been a while. Everyone knows." ** The immense difference between the "Next Time" trailer from the end of "Zer0 Sum" and the finished episode suggest a complete rewrite was the reason for the delay. * One of Rhys's dialogue options in his first conversation with Jack is a direct quote from the ''Sherlock ''episode "The Great Game": "Too many people died." "THAT'S WHAT PEOPLE DO!" * Skipping the end credits will prompt the gag notification from the previous episode: "Telltale Games will remember that." Skipping them on a second playthrough or after having done it in the previous episode yields "Seriously? Again? These people worked really hard on this!" * Hollow Point's bulletin board features many other characters' wanted posters along side Fiona's. Among them are Roland, Lilith, Mordecai, Brick, Salvador and Maya. Achievements